ERIE, Pa. – For the third consecutive year a Bluefield State College men’s tennis player has won the USTA/ITA Atlantic Regional Championship as newcomer Vishwesh Sinha defeated teammate Jacob Carey for the USTA/ITA Atlantic Regional Singles Championship while Pitor Kruk and Carey combined to win the USTA/ITA Atlantic Regional Doubles Championship held at the Pennbriar Athletic Club. It was the Big Blues second consecutive year winning the doubles title.

Sinha came into the tournament seeded no.1 in the championship bracket and did not disappoint as he defeated Kruk in the second round 6-3, 6-2 after earning a first-round bye. He went on to defeat All-WVIAC performer Sam Humphrey out of Unviersity of Charleston 7-6(5), 6-2 in the quarterfinals and defeated another All-WVIAC perfomer in Charleston’s Matt Sherba 6-0, 6-1 in the semifinals to set-up an all-BSC finals match where he dropped Carey 6-4, 6-1 for the title.

Carey advanced to the finals as the no.2 seed after defeating Edinboro’s Cody Duncan 6-2, 6-1 in the second round, Mercyhurst’s Robert Rizea 6-2, 6-2 in the quarterfinals and teammate and last year’s ITA Singles Regional Champion Vlad Catlan 6-4, 6-1 in the semifinals.

Kruk and Carey came into the tournament unseeded but showed poise, defeating the no.3 seed doubles team of Leonardo Viera and Augustin Ochoa from Davis & Elkins 8-5 in the first round. They went on to defeat Travis Beck and Jorn van der Veer of Mercyhurst 8-3 in the quarterfinals before taking the semifinals match 8-5 over Gui Lima and Vinnie Guarda of West Liberty.

In the championship match, it was a three-set thriller against Sinha and Shikar Kapur, the 2010 Atlantic Regional Champion, but Kruk and Carey pulled it out winning the match 6-4, 4-6, 10-5.

The Big Blues also saw success in the “B” Doubles bracket as Guatam Sreeram and Conner Pickering won the “B” Doubles Championship after defeating Gabe Seymour and Rico Williams from University of Charleston 8-3.

Sinha, Kruk and Carey will now prepare for the UTSA/ITA National Small College Championships held October 11-14 at the Copeland-Cox Tennis Center in Mobile, Ala.